In the poverty-stricken era of Stalin’s cruel regime, homeless drunks and homosexuals are arrested for non-existent offences while paranoid citizens are pressured into denouncing suspected criminals, including friends and family members.

Since the release of Child 44 in February, Smith has been thrust rather rapidly into the limelight of the literary world.

His nomination for the Booker, one of the most prestigious prizes in literature, has unleashed a flurry of bitching among the notoriously bitter denizens of the book world.

“I cannot respect a judging committee that decides to pick a book like Child 44, a fairly well-written and well-paced thriller that is no more than that, over novels as exceptional as Helen Garner’s The Spare Room or Ross Raisin’s God’s Own Country.”

He adds: “I will declare my bias – as the publisher at Canongate I had a vested interest in seeing The Spare Room make the shortlist.”

Another poster, called Gobsmacked, commented:

“This is more Richard and Judy than Booker and the airport novel has finally been recognised with Child 44.”

The reference to the highly popular Richard and Judy book club, now a mainstay of their Channel 4 show, might puzzle some of the other nominees this year, among them Salman Rushdie and gay journalist Philip Hensher.

Mr Hensher won the Stonewall Award for Journalist of the Year in 2007.

Not everyone in book land is upset that Tom Rob Smith’s Child 44 has been nominated.